


Can We Keep Him?

by sockiah



Category: Dark Angel
Genre: Dinosaurs, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-11-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 22:23:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4155213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sockiah/pseuds/sockiah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec finally returns from a mysterious road trip, with a friend he made during his time in the X5R program.  This friend might have feathers.  And teeth.  And claws.  A dinosaur... Alec brought home a dinosaur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_“Hey, did anyone hear that?” X5-798 asked into the darkness. No one responded. Even 211 and 453 were asleep, or at least pretending to be. No one wanted to talk to one of the traitors that had landed them all here. Three weeks into the X5R program and it turned out genetically engineered ten year olds can hold a grudge._

_“There it is again,” 798’s blankets rustled and she’d clearly sat up. 494 could imagine her on the other side of the wall, her small frame sitting up in bed, hugging her knees to herself. She was the smallest of any of them, even tinier than 211. Did they even feed them over there at the Gillette base? No wonder they’d broken out._

_494 kept quiet, but he_ could _hear a scuffling sound. Like it was coming from the floor below them, from the basement. They were in a very unusual sleeping arrangement, in a barracks that was split into five separate rooms with false walls made of tacky looking wood paneling. Part of their reprogramming protocol stated they couldn’t be allowed together in groups larger than three at a time. 494 was sharing sleeping space with X5-472 and X5-418, with 798 speaking from the other side of the flimsy, fake wall. Perhaps Manticore’s new policy would be more successful if they had the budget for actual walls, or if the Phoenix base had enough spare single-occupant cells available for each of them. Alas, neither possibility was a reality and the X5s could communicate just as well as ever._

_“I know you’re awake 494. Can you hear it? Like growling.”_

_494 got up then, bare feet tiptoeing across the tiled floor, peeking through a knothole in the paneling. Pointless now to pretending to be asleep, when 798’s ridiculous hearing could suss out the truth effortlessly. She was looking around the room with her gigantic brown eyes, eyes that almost seemed too big for her head. There was a bit of fear in those big eyes, dashing out like little laser pinpoints of terror. She looked right at 494 and the fear seized him as well._

_He couldn’t hear the growling, only more of that scuffling sound, but he was pretty sure 798 had wolf DNA or something. She always heard and smelled things sooner than the rest of them. Just like X5-799 used to do. Maybe that’s why it was so easy for the Seattle unit to hold their grudge. Every time they looked at her they saw their lost sister._

_“What is it? 494 asked. 798 wasn’t just fearful, she was curious as well, listening intently._

_“Something big,” she said. “It’s right downstairs. She gave him a wry smile, “Wanna go see?”_

 

Chapter One

 

“…And where the fire truck is Alec?”

Most of the Jam Pony messengers ignored Normal, you know how they are, all too busy buzzing around in their own lives to care about Normal, or where Alec is. Normal really brings it on himself though, with his head stuck almost completely up his own ass, so he was lucky when Original Cindy, feeling sociable, said, “I ain’t seen your Golden Boy for over a week. You sure he still works here?”

“I think he left town,” Max sauntered over, grinning conspiratorially at Original Cindy. It was true that neither of them had seen Alec for a week, but she was certain he’d show up again. He always did. Like a cat, ironically enough.

After a couple more days, however, even the parts of Max’s brain that were the best at pretending to be indifferent to Alec were beginning to wonder where he was. Maybe she could nonchalantly ask Logan or Asha if they knew where he’d got to. Logan might know, given that he knew random information on just about everyone. And of course Asha frequently had the guy following her around like a puppy every time he felt lonely and misdirected.

Max pretended that didn’t bother her. Or actually, it totally _did_ bother her. If Asha were interested in him, she’d have closed the deal by now, and Alec was being totally obnoxious. So her upset feelings on this matter were clearly for the benefit of Asha, and how she shouldn’t have to deal with Alec. Except for the part where Asha continued to make flirty conversation with him all the time. Max narrowed her eyes to prevent herself from sighing audibly. Her thoughts would go around in circles like this all day if she let them.

“I’ve not heard from him for over a week,” said Asha, her nose scrunched all up and she smiled cutely, but her eyes looked worried. She was trying to hide it, not wanting Logan to know she cared, probably. 

Before Logan could get the chance to drag her into some Eyes Only business that she didn’t have time for, Max excused herself. “Well, I better bounce. I owe Joshua groceries and I have no idea what the haggling situation is like out there.”

* * * *

Once at Joshua’s, Max handed him cereal and Zebra Cakes. She couldn’t understand his affinity for the cakes. They tasted like plastic and air. The first one she’d eaten tasted like sugar, fair enough, but after that the main flavor was plastic. Maybe it was a fresh out of Manticore thing, because the only person who loved those cakes more than Joshua was Alec.

“So, what’s Alec been up to lately? He’s not been dragging you into any more scams, has he?” Max put on her stern, don’t-you-dare-let-that-asshole-drag-you-into-the-criminal-underbelly face.

“No, not here. He left town.”

“He left town?” A heavy, sick feeling sank into Max’s gut. She did an impressive job of ignoring it, if she didn’t say so herself.

Joshua nodded, slowly unwrapping a Zebra Cake, the cellophane crinkling dramatically. At least the cellophane wrapping wasn’t as dingy looking as the box. Whatever it was with snack cake boxes, and why they always had to be caked in fifty layers of dirt before they made it to Seattle was beyond Max. It’s was like everything in this entire city spent a year in a wet shoe, save for Logan’s iMac.

“Where’d he go?”

Joshua didn’t look up, still engrossed in Zebra Cake. He stuck his nose in the open wrapper and inhaled deeply, a trick that Max knew he’d learned from Alec. Finally he replied, “Alec went on a road trip.”

“What? Where?” 

Max was concerned. Wait, no she wasn’t. Why would she care what Alec does? Why would he take off so quickly? He wasn’t on the run; he’d been off Manticore’s radar for over a month. He would’ve told her if he had to run from Manticore goons, right? He most certainly would have, so they could’ve worked together to get themselves and Joshua all out of dodge. Unless he was in such a rush that he’d figured leaving Joshua with the message he was leaving would have to be sufficient.

Joshua shrugged, jamming a whole Zebra Cake in his mouth before answering. “Said he had to get something,” Joshua sprayed little bits of cake in Max’s direction. She squinted and flicked the chewed food off her cheek.

“Great.” He’d probably gone off on a drug run or something. If he “had to get something” presumably that meant he’d be coming back, and if Max knew Alec, whatever he was coming back with was going to be the cause of her next headache.

* * * *

Max probably could’ve gotten a job as a psychic, given how correct her prediction was.

Not that she didn’t already have a headache from worrying for the next three days. Well not “worrying” exactly. She didn’t worry about Alec, because obviously she didn’t care what he did. He was just stupid Alec. But Joshua would be sad if he just disappeared forever, Max rationalized, so obviously that’s why she kept wondering where he was and if he was okay. Three days later and Joshua was due for another batch of groceries. Max inspected some of his newer paintings while Joshua rooted through the paper bag Max had left on the table. This time she’d brought more veggies and fewer snack cakes. “I suppose it’s been a quieter working environment around here without Alec stomping around all the damn time.”

“No Little Debbie,” Joshua wrinkled his nose in protest. “Alec is back now.”

As if on cue, several loud thuds, followed by a quieter, scuffling sound came from upstairs. And growling. Did we mention the growling? There was an awful lot of growling. Weird, high-pitched growling.

“Yeeaaah,” said Max. “I guess so. What the hell is he doing?”

First he just disappears leaving everyone to wonder for almost two weeks, and now he’s brought a drug kingpin or one of the Steelheads or someone into Joshua’s house? What the hell goes through that X5’s head?

“Alec said not to go upstairs.”

“Oh he did, did he?” Now Max was really suspicious, and made a beeline for the staircase, tromping up it with angry footfalls she hoped Alec could hear over the sound of whatever the hell he was doing on the other side of the bedroom door.

Who the hell did Alec think he was, disappearing for over a week, most likely crossing state lines without telling anyone where he was going, and then coming back and wreaking god knows what kind of havoc on Joshua’s house? Oh, she would kick his ass. She would make him wish they’d never combined his DNA in that arrangement that was just him. She would—

Max put on her most charming smile, took a deep breath, and calmly knocked on the door. Well, not super calmly, or it wouldn’t have been loud enough for Alec to even hear it. But loudly _and_ controlled.

“Five seconds,” Alec called, as there was another loud thump and something that sounded suspiciously like the gnashing of teeth.

Max continued pounding at the door as the old house creaked and groaned. She was having a harder and harder time keeping her face poised so she could berate Alec while still looking like the sensible one. She was pretty sure the muscles above her eyebrows were going to cramp. Whatever the hell he thought he was up to—

Max didn’t get the chance to finish mentally threatening Alec before the floor let out a loud CRRRRRAAAACCKKKK! Followed by a slightly less loud thud downstairs, and then more drawn out crashing sounds. Joshua howling. More of the growling and gnashing that had previously been upstairs, and a minute or so of what had to be smaller objects and bits of house falling through what was clearly a large hole in the floor.

“What the hell, Alec?” Max shouted as she ran back downstairs. “Did you kidnap a freaking bear?”

Alec peered through the hole in the ceiling, looking down at Max and the damage below. “Not a bear,” he grinned, before disappearing back behind the rubble.

“Alec, this is Joshua’s _house_! Do you even think before you do things?”

Joshua and the growling sound had both disappeared into the kitchen. Max followed, stepping over the pile of destroyed plaster and 2x4s in the living room. A fine plaster dust coated almost everything.

Max had to double take when she reached the kitchen.

Wedged in the corner between the refrigerator and the door to the back steps, was Joshua, batting a chair at the thing that had him cornered, like the world’s most desperate lion tamer. 

And the thing that had him cornered? Clearly it was a dinosaur.

But no, that couldn’t be. Some sort of genetically engineered Komodo dragon? It moved like a much more coordinated version of the gossamer. Max peered at it, looking to spot a barcode along its scaly neck, but if there was one, it was obscured by the Mohawk of feathers that started between its eyes, and followed its spine all the way to halfway down its tail. They were all standing on end, like a dog with its hackles up.

“Little Felllaaaaa…” Joshua protested, pushing the dinosaur… thing… batting its foot down with the chair. It had wicked claws and seemed to be attempting to gut him.

But for that matter, those claws were a major complication in Max trying to do anything to help. She puzzled over the situation, sorting out the best way to subdue the giant, lizard-bird-thing. Max refused to call it a dinosaur. Dinosaurs were extinct, and she was pretty sure if she called it a dinosaur, Alec would never let her live that down.

But it really, really looked like a dinosaur. Kind of like the ones in _Jurassic Park_ , especially those claws. The rest of it looked kind of different though—there were the feathers, and they weren’t cinematically pretty feathers—just kind of brownish with black speckles.

The thing was eight, maybe nine feet long, and about four feet tall. Joshua’s kitchen was not very big. Its tail swung around, knocking the remaining chairs in all directions and scooting the table closer to the far wall. Alec’s beloved TV had already taken a tumble and the screen was cracked. Served him right, thought Max.

“Maaax?”

“Sorry, sorry. Keep holding him off, Joshua.”

The best bet seemed to be for her to grab one of the other chairs, then they could work together to try to force him down the basement steps. The nearest tipped chair was about a foot away from where the not-dinosaur was standing. And about a foot away from those claws.

With a burst of X5 speed, Max dove for it.

The not-dinosaur’s head swung toward her, nostrils flaring as it sniffed the air previously occupied by her head. It grimaced, seemingly disapproving of her new coconut shampoo.

But its eyes locked on Max and that stare. Her blood ran cold.

Every instinct told her to run. But also to not move a muscle.

Max was pretty sure she hadn’t soiled herself, but it sure felt like her heart was losing its shit.

Its eyes though. In all the years of scientists and doctors experimenting on her, Max had never seen a face so predatory. It wasn’t evil. It wasn’t cruel. It wasn’t dehumanizing her, because in no universe could it ever care that she was human in the first place. She was always just meat.

And this thing had teeth.

Max copied Joshua, and thrust the chair into the not-dinosaur’s face, keeping those teeth as far from her as she could.

“We need to push it into the basement,” Max whispered. “Maybe we can lock it in down there.”

Joshua nodded, and adjusted his angle to force the not-dinosaur across the kitchen and back into the living room. 

The not-dinosaur tripped over rubble, and was forced to keep looking down at its feet as it stumbled backward, closer and closer to the basement door. Which was still closed, of course. If Max hadn’t been panicking about having a large, predatory, not a dinosaur, creature in her friend’s kitchen, maybe she would’ve had the forethought to open the basement door _before_ grabbing the chair.

“I have to open the door,” said Max apologetically. “Can you hold him off?”

“Go, Little Fella.”

“Hang tight, Big Fella.”

Keeping her chair trained on the not-dinosaur, Max darted around behind it. It turned, nearly thrashing her with its tail. Max saw the movement at the last second, and made an impressive leap over the tail, before landing and throwing open the basement door.

Joshua thrust his chair more forcefully in the not-dinosaur’s direction. It made a loud, echoing, barking sound—more like a seal’s bark than a dog’s—and opened its mouth widely in Joshua’s direction.

Max ran around behind him, and back to the not-dinosaur’s side, cutting off its only means of escape, albeit a means through the pile of rubble. It looked like it was getting ready to jump.

That was alarming. It looked like those legs had some power behind them.

“Joshua, stand up tall and push your chair down on him!” Max shouted. “I’ll guard your belly!”

Joshua did as instructed and the not-dinosaur shrunk down and let out a low growl. They continued to push him back toward the staircase.

It still had its eyes trained on the two of them, and now having cleared most of the mess from the ceiling collapse; it wasn’t even looking at its feet anymore.

That was clearly a mistake as the not-dinosaur stepped backward through the doorway to the basement, then tumbled down the flight of stairs.

Max slammed the door, then jammed her chair under the handle, looking around the room for something heavier to block the door with. Joshua was already on it, hauling the desk across the room and sliding it in Max’s direction.

Desk in place, Max slid down to the floor, breathing hard, and leaning against the desk. 

“I’m gonna kill Alec,” she said.

“Alec gets himself in danger,” Joshua noted. “But Alec should clean the house.”


	2. Chapter Two

It had been maybe five minutes since D-023 had fallen through the floor of Joshua’s house. Alec could hear the skirmish going on downstairs, lots of growling and furniture being thrown around. He worried Max or Joshua might injure 23, and peered through the hole in the floor, trying to figure out what was going on.

And then the two of them were back out in the living room, brandishing chairs at 23 and shoving him away from themselves. The poor thing was in absolute panic, his feathers standing on end, snapping his jaws in a defensive posture. He wouldn’t bite them. Probably.

Alec backed into the closet behind him, trying to decide on his best move here. Jumping out the window was an option. He could come back for 23 later when Max was gone, disappear for a month or however long it’d take them to fix Joshua’s house, then come back and they could forget the whole thing ever happened.

Downstairs it sounded like 23 took a tumble down the basement steps. The door slammed behind him. So that was one less thing to worry about. Now there was just the fact that Max seemed weirdly angry given all he’d done was destroy Joshua’s living room and one of the upstairs bedrooms. I mean, it was only two rooms in the entire house, which, by the way, was apparently not even remotely up to code, and that was _totally_ not Alec’s fault.

He should go downstairs and help, he really should, but what do you even say? And Alec is always ready with something to say. The perfect comeback or quip, to take the blame off him, and the guilt and the crushing brokenness of his life—a quick smirk and a snide comment, so Max would smack him affectionately on the back of the head. “Oh Alec.”

Just of course, “Oh Alec.” Of course you’d do this stupid thing, but we already had most of it handled before we even knew it was you, you stupid son of a bitch. Only right now, the stupid thing was a giant hole in the floor and a deinonychus in the basement.

It’d been several minutes since he’d heard 23 take the tumble. Now he was just waiting—waiting for what? Alec should act first. Say something first. Get in there and joke it all away somehow. Haha, how about those post-pulse property inspectors, am I right?

Max’s annoyed footsteps were stomping up the stairs now. How did she even manage to make walking sound annoyed? That was a good one; maybe he’d go with that. Although… He eyed the large hole in the middle of the room. Jagged splinters of wood jutted out from beneath broken floorboards. It looked definitely unstable and going near it would likely cause more damage. On the other hand, he’d have to get downstairs somehow.

Just as Max opened the door, Alec disappeared straight down through the hole. Max glowered down at him, arms crossed. Alec grinned, like this was exactly the plan or something. “How do you even manage to make walking sound annoyed?”

“What?” She shook her head, ignoring Alec’s question. “Alec, Joshua and I could’ve been eaten by… What was that thing?”

Alec couldn’t quite tell Max’s anger level from his new perch atop a pile of shattered wood and crumbled plaster, but he was pretty sure it was higher than necessary. “But you _weren’t_ eaten, right? No one was even hurt except for 23; he probably got a few bruises, am I right?”

Max disappeared from the hole in the ceiling and reappeared on the stairs a few moments later. “This is really just about me doing stupid shit and making a mess, isn’t it?” Alec continued yammering on. “In which case, it’s not that big a deal, since you know that’s basically my entire personality, and you adore me anyway.”

“Listen, asshat,” Max narrowed her eyes. “I just nearly got gutted and devoured by _whatever the hell_ that thing is down there. Joshua might not be able to live here anymore because _his ceiling collapsed_. I have enough adrenalin in my system that I could probably throw you up onto the roof if I wanted, so maybe you should just shut the hell up until you’re ready to A) apologize, and B) explain what that is in the basement.”

 

_”Wanna go see?” asked 798._

_494 did want to, but something was holding him back. Sure he’d snuck around plenty of times after dark at the Seattle Manticore. But they were currently under a crazy experimental program with the sole purpose of making them into even more compliant automatons. Thus, any toe out of line was likely to be punished ten times as harshly. And it wasn’t like consequences weren’t harsh before._

_798 scoffed when he voiced these concerns. “Well it looks like the program’s working. I’ve got no interest in letting them win so easily. I already gave myself to them once, when I chose not to run with the others. I don’t intend to make that mistake again.”_

_798 was asserting individuality and free will. The very concepts were relatively foreign to him until he got here and psy-ops had started trying to drill it out of him. Now he recognized that his track record of “insolence” and “movement out of assigned area” were markers of his free will. Something that the Gillette group apparently had too much of and now, according to Manticore, so did he. But really, how different was “movement out of assigned area” from creative problem solving and escape & evade techniques? Was insolence so far from resistance to interrogation? All good qualities for a soldier to have and 494 wasn’t so interested in losing these things. Or himself._

_798 was already stepping out of her cot and shoving fatigues under the blanket, arranging them in the shape of a sleeping ten year old. 494 sighed and began to copy her without a word._

_Silently the pair snuck down the dimly lit hallway, each stepping carefully to prevent their footfalls from echoing on the tiled floors and concrete walls._

_“Which way?” 494 whispered._

_“Not sure. It’s not like we’ve been here long enough to do much exploring. But it’s downstairs.”_

_It turned out that most of the labs at the Phoenix base were kept on the basement level. Probably to have them at closer access to the genetic anomalies locked away in the sub-basement, 494 thought with a chill._

_“I’ve lost all sense of direction,” 494 complained._

_“Just follow the sound of the growling.”_

_“I don’t hear anything,” he frowned._

_798 rolled her eyes. “Then follow me.”_

_She led him down several corridors, the lighting growing dimmer and creepier with every turn. The lights were even flickering. Then she turned left and suddenly everything was bright. Blinding and the sense that if anyone were to be on the nightshift right now, there’d be nowhere to hide. Trapped out in the open! Exposed!_

_More than that, 494 could hear the growling now. And it was loud._

_“Back here,” 798 said, stopping by a door with a keypad. “Did you pass basic encryption and code breaking?”_

_“I did okay.”_

_798 huffed. “Sure you did.” 798’s usual method of entry was breaking windows, but this lab was clearly alarmed and under heavier than usual security. She pried the front of the panel off the wall, inspected the wires for about 20 seconds before pulling one out at its base and reconnecting it at another point. The door slid open._

_Instantly the sounds from inside the lab echoed and reverberated down the hallway. 494 mounted a sizable effort to keep from covering his ears and looking like a total wuss in front of 798, who had far better hearing and didn’t even flinch. She calmly replaced the front of the keypad and led 494 inside._

_“Close exterior door to D-series before attempting to open interior door,” a feminine sounding computer voice said. “Containment protocols will keep interior door locked until exterior door is closed.”_

_“Why is it doing that?” 494 wondered aloud._

_“Because whatever’s in here is super dangerous,” said 798, a look of ‘duh’ in her eyes. “I wanna find out.” She pressed a large button on the exterior door, and it slid shut again. Now it was too late for 494 to turn back. They were about to lock themselves in a lab with some kind of monster that clearly had high security for a reason._

_But 798 was already opening the interior door._

_There was a heavy_ shwoop _sound, like this door was much heavier and stickier than the first one._

_There was one last, cacophonous roar, as they stepped into the room. And then silence. Just the buzzing of computer consoles and overhead lighting. It was the more purplish glow of full-spectrum bulbs, and 494 noticed the temperature in the lab was several degrees higher than in the rest of the basement._

_Something sniffed the air. Something with a nose large enough that he could hear it sniffing from across the room. 798 had a vaguely insane glint in her eyes and marched around the corner where 494 could no longer see her. What could he do? He followed her._

_It was a park. In the middle of the lab, it was a giant, underground park. There was a large grassy area surrounded on two sides by a decent collection of trees, most of them tropical looking. There was a pond off to the other side, and behind that was a row of cages. They couldn’t see into them, as the grass was waist high in most areas. But they could see well enough to tell that one of the cage doors was open._

_That would explain why in all this time, this was the first they were hearing all this noise in the middle of the night._

_Something had gotten out._

_Something that let out a loud, nasal, honk. 494’s knees were wobbling and he felt his heart drop to his bowls when it lifted its feathered head up out of the grass. It looked him right in the eye, sizing him up, before turning to examine 798 in the exact same fashion._

_It was a dinosaur._

_Or at least, that’s what it looked like. He had no frame of reference for what sort of dinosaur it could be—that sort of knowledge wasn’t exactly applicable in the field, so all he knew that this was a dinosaur sort of thing._

_But clearly a predatory sort of thing, and that was important. Important claws and important teeth. Very important to keep track of those claws and teeth._

_THUMP THUMP His heart was about to make his chest explode. THUMP THUMP THUMP_

_Certainly the dinosaur could hear it and certainly it was making it hungry._

_It cocked its head, eyeing him curiously, then turned back to 798._

_Then it crouched down, head to the ground, waving its tail toward the ceiling. It was an impressive tail, muscular and rigid, bringing the full length of the creature close to ten feet. It just waggled its tail there, keeping its head on the ground, almost upside down, and looking expectantly at 798._

_“What does it want?” she wondered._

_“How should I know?”_

_“Do you dare me to touch it?”_

_“What? No. Can’t you see the claws? What if it guts you?”_

_The claws were mean looking. Several inches long and hooked, perfect for disemboweling someone._

_“What if it doesn’t?” challenged 798, crouching down and taking tiny steps toward the dinosaur._

_Its tongue lolled out of its mouth. Then it flopped over onto its back, terrifying claws on its feet kicking non-threateningly at the air._

_“What?” 494 thought aloud. “What’s it doing?”_

_798 scratched under its chin. It licked all up her arm, dripping saliva everywhere._

_“I think it wants to play.”_

 

Alec sighed, carefully stepping down from the pile of rubble he’d been standing on. “It’s a deinonychus.”

“That means nothing to me,” said Max.   
“He’s D-023. We call him 23. He’s a deinonychus.”

“Are you saying that thing’s from Manticore?”

“The one and only.”

“But we burned the Seattle base to the ground. And I _know_ they didn’t have deinon-ickies in Gillette.”

“He’s from the Phoenix base. After you all escaped in ’09, those of us labeled as flight risks got shipped off there for reprogramming.”

“So these last two weeks you were in Phoenix? That’s where you were?” Max’s shoulders visibly relaxed, letting a whole bunch of unnecessary stress and worry drift away. “Why didn’t you just tell us? And you broke onto a Manticore base?” Max’s volume raised again. “Without back up? Are you just a complete idiot?”

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t think you’d approve of this particular side mission.”

“So why’d you go?” Max crossed her arms over her chest.

“I’d seen a file a few weeks before you torched Manticore-Seattle, that was ordering the termination of the DP-Project. And I didn’t want that to happen to 23. I’d have saved some of the others too, but deinonychus are kinda big, at least in terms of fitting them in my car.”

“The DP project?”

Max was just a never ending well of questions apparently, but given she’d just encountered a dinosaur, this was reasonable. Alec figured it was the least he could do to answer them. “Dinosaur Pack,” he answered. “798 found it. We used to sneak out at night to go play with the dinosaurs.”

“You knew Jace?”

Alec paused. Of course 798 was from Max’s unit, but it was weird to think of her as Jace. “Yeah. I knew her. Of course, we met in the X5R program, and she’d have been insane to try to claim an identity there. She’s just 798 to me.”

“She’s out, you know. Jace. I ran into her a little over a year ago. She was pregnant, and Logan and I got her the cash to get her to Mexico.”

Alec smiled. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. She knew how to run a place like Manticore. Was it that lab tech? Victor?”

“Yeah, that’s him. That was an ongoing thing then?”

“Oh yeah. We all liked Vic. Managed to get extra cash from him; made life a little more fun when I was outside on missions.”

Max smirked. “Yeah I bet.”

“Anyway, 798 had especially good hearing. She could hear the dinosaurs, even when the rest of us couldn’t.”

Max sighed, putting on what Alec thought of as her “Mom Face,” meaning she was about to focus on what was right in front of her, and usually what was the most annoying thing to Alec in any given moment. She obviously wanted to sit down on this pile of rubble and chat about Jace for the rest of the day. But she was going to settle for forcing Alec to be responsible for cleaning said rubble pile instead.

“So why, exactly, did you bring some Manticore ‘nomaly into Joshua’s house?”

“He’s not an anomaly. They didn’t make a mistake making him; he turned out exactly how they wanted him. You’ll notice that neither you nor Joshua are currently gutted on the kitchen floor, with a dinosaur enjoying your intestines for lunch.”

“That deinony thing really is a dinosaur?”

“Mostly a dinosaur. A deinonychus to be precise, and he’s as much deinonychus as you’re human, but yeah, the geneticists definitely took some liberties. He has canine DNA, I can tell you that much.”

Downstairs he could hear the sounds of 23 demolishing the piano. This included a lot of his happy clicks and growls, so at least it was an enjoyable destructive rampage. And at least he hadn’t been to grievously injured by either falling through the floor, or by tumbling down the stairs. Imagine trying to get Beverly Shankar over for that house call, and trying to explain why he had a deinonychus in the city.

“And he’s perfectly safe to have around?”

“Well I wouldn’t say perfectly safe. I mean, he has a six inch claw on each foot, Max. He could gut you in a second. He just… Wouldn’t want to gut you. He’d feel bad about it. Don’t startle him, okay? He’s in a new place. He’s scared.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I know. Just have some sympathy, okay?”

“Alec?”

“Yeah?” Alec tried to give her his best go at puppy dog eyes.

“Clean the damn house.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said with a grin. Max fucking hated it when you call her ‘ma’am.’


	3. Chapter 3

“I can do that,” said Logan. “The question is why?”

“Just a gut instinct. Maybe I’m a little paranoid,” Max leaned back on his desk. “But what good are gut instincts if you don’t trust ‘em from time to time?”

Max had asked Logan to scan all his databases and sources for increased military presence in the area, which might signal Manticore looking for their missing dinosaur. She really didn’t feel like mentioning the fact they had a dinosaur locked in Joshua’s basement unless absolutely necessary, although she didn’t exactly know why. What was Logan going to do about it? Other than stress and worry and scold Max for the stupid shit that Alec did, then judge all of them for their wacky mutant shenanigans.

She still hadn’t gone down to have another look at D-023 either, although she’d wanted to. She just couldn’t admit that to Alec right now. I mean, of course she’d want to see the dinosaur in the basement, who wouldn’t? But she’d spent almost an hour chastising him about it, so now she had to play it cool. 

“Whoa, what the? Okay, there’s definitely an increased presence in the city. There had to be something that tipped you off,” Logan eyed Max curiously. Max didn’t look directly at him. He knew her well enough that he could tell when she was lying.

“Like I said, gut instinct. Any idea where they’re coming from?”

“They definitely came up the coast through Oregon. Not sure where they originated before that. So that’s good. Less likely they have anything to do with Manticore then.”

“Oh, they’re Manticore all right,” Max frowned. “Thanks Logan. I owe you one. Gotta jet and get Joshua and Alec outta dodge.”

“Wait, Max,” Logan called after her, but she was already out the door, silently mouthing the words, “be careful” to herself and smiling at the thought that even when she was being evasive, Logan cared for her.

She felt bad leaving like that, but quid pro quo, and she really didn’t have time to do Logan any favors right now. She owed him one, but he could collect on that some other time. She revved her bike and sped back to Joshua’s.

* * *

“Hey genius,” she slammed the door open. “Did you make sure to evade any tails you might’ve gotten when you, oh I don’t know, decided to steal a top secret dinosaur experiment from a top secret government military base?”

Alec pulled down the handkerchief from over his nose and mouth. “Did you rehearse that speech the whole way here?”

Max just stared at him.

“And yeah. Yes. Of course I did,” Alec said.

“Then why is there an increased military presence in the city? Buncha guys who came up through Oregon. Buncha guys who probably followed some idiot and his dinosaur up from Arizona. I mean, that is the most likely explanation, right?”

“Shit.”

Max grabbed the broom from Alec’s hand. “You’ve gotta get out of here. More specifically, your car’s gotta get outta here.”

“Yeah. Just let me get 23—“

“Nuh-uh, you can’t bring the dinosaur with you!”

“What’d ya mean?”

“That’s exactly what they’ll be looking for, Alec.” Max smacked him upside the head. “You’re gonna get your car, and your dumb self, away from here. Away from putting Joshua in harm’s way. So first, you’re gonna tell me everything you know about this dinosaur of yours.”

* * *

The sounds of destruction had long stopped emanating from the basement. Either because 23 had run out of things to destroy, or because he’d worn himself out Max wasn’t sure. Most likely it was both. As soon as Alec opened the door, Max heard scuffling from the far side of the basement. She realized her heart was pounding. Whatever Alec had said about the thing being part dog and really quite friendly didn’t really matter to her terrified lizard brain, which fully remembered facing this thing. And its teeth.

“Hey 23,” Alec cooed, pitching his voice higher than normal as he descended the steps. “C’mon over and meet Maxie.”

The dinosaur sniffed the air and knocked over a pile of boxes.

“Yeah, c’mon over and meet Maxie. I know she was scared when she first saw you, but she’s really very nice. She’s saved my neck enough times anyway. C’mob buddy.”

23’s mean looking face poked out from behind what remained of the piano, which had somehow been buried beneath several upturned cardboard boxes. The feathers on his face were all sleeked back by the stuff surrounding him.

“Rmmmmmmm,” Max thought Alec was making this humming sound, but then she realized it was her. There was a sick feeling somewhere in her chest. “I don’t know what I was thinking, Alec. Take him with you and get to Canada.”

“No. You were right. If I leave here with him, Manticore’ll find us in no time. I’ll plant a false trail out of the city, then come back. Three days, four tops. 23’s really fun and won’t be trouble at all. You can probably keep him down here most of the time.”

“Most of the time?” Max must’ve misheard him. Surely the dinosaur would be staying in the basement _the entire time_.

“Well I’m sure he’ll be better behaved for you if he gets an hour of sunlight a day. And if you can manage to get him out for more frequent breaks, he’ll leave his bathroom mess outside and you won’t have to deal with that.”

“You want me to take a ten foot dinosaur for walkies? Is he leash trained, Alec?”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Take him in the backyard. Don’t let him jump over the fence.”

He crouched down, looking back to 23 and held out his palms. “Hey 23, how’s it goin’ down here? Did you get in a good nap?”

23 bounded over in one leap, sending the boxes and bits of busted piano flying in every direction. He butted Alec’s face with his snout.

Alec scritched under his chin like the dinosaur was a kitten, to which 23 responded by snuffling in a pleased sort of way that sounded almost like a chuckle. “Give his head a pat, Max. Show him you’re okay.”

Max tried to gulp back her skepticism at this and took the two steps to approach the creature. He wasn’t technically that big, but for the fact that his tail whipped around to a shocking length. Still, psychologically he was much, much larger than in reality. And now those claws were in full sight, and her brain was making no hyperbole about them. The claws were enormous in every way.

23’s pupils followed Max’s hand as she reached out for him, running her hand along the space between his eye ridges. “H-hey there, dinosaur,” she said. “S-sorry about… About throwing you down the stairs.” She felt silly. Despite how Alec talked to 23, there was no way he understood english. If he was really part dinosaur and part dog, his lexicon was at maximum as large as a two year old child’s, and more than likely less than that.

23 continued snuffling, and nudged his head upward, leaning into Max’s hand. 

“He likes it when you run your fingers through his feathers,” said Alec, grinning madly at her. He was showing her _a dinosaur_. She was petting _a dinosaur!_ Max’s heart thrummed against her ribcage and into her throat, but did as instructed.

The brown feathers were soft, but rigid against Max’s fingers as she ran her hands along the top of 23’s head and down his neck.

“Is this the color dinosaurs really were then?” asked Max. “I would’ve hoped for more color, like birds, you know?”

Alec shrugged. “Could be, but also might not be. I’m pretty sure he’s German Shepard and labrador retriever for the doggy part of his cocktail, and I don’t know about you, but his coloration reminds me of a German Shepard.”

Max nodded in agreement. The same feathers ran all the way down his back to his tail, but they thinned a bit along his sides, becoming more of a downy covering than anything else. She was no scientist, but she supposed the most use they’d have been back in the Mesozoic was warmth. Certainly this dinosaur wouldn’t have been flying anytime soon, despite having feathers similar to his mohawk all along his arms as well.

“We’d better feed him,” said Alec. “C’mon 23. Let’s go upstairs. Steak? C’mon 23! Steak!”

Alec turned and left the basement, 23 following behind eagerly, taking the stairs in two leaps.

Apparently Alec was storing two cows worth of steak in the fridge. “Where’d you get all this?”

“Let’s just say I picked it up on my way here, so the people who’ll miss it, won’t have any chance of finding me.”

“You stole it?”

“Dinosaurs gotta eat, Max. What else was I gonna do?” 23 was leaping around excitedly, his tail smacking against the wall. “I don’t have a dog bowl or anything yet for him. I was having him drink water out of that large pot Joshua’s always making macaroni in, but that’s somewhere under the bedroom floor rubble right now, so we’ll have to find something else before I head out. You can just toss the steak on the floor though,” he said, pulling out a large, red slab of meat that Max seriously doubted had been stored properly. Alec probably had it in a trash bag in the trunk of his car half the way up here.

“Don’t worry,” said Alec, noticing the look on Max’s face. “I kept the meat on ice for the trip up here. Don’t wanna make this guy sick now, do we?” Alec directed the last bit of that sentiment at 23, cooing in a baby voice and waggling the dripping steak in the air before dropping it to the floor, where it landed with a wet splat.

Max wrinkled her nose and grimaced, while 23 eagerly lunged for the steak, holding it down with one large toe claw, and ripping it in half with his teeth. Alec crossed his arms, grinning proudly.

“So give him one of those twice a day and he should be pretty well fed. I doubt the dinosaurs ate that way back in the day. Probably gorged themselves on a big kill all at once, y’know? But this is how they fed ‘em at Manticore, so he’s used to it.” He paused thoughtfully, while 23 made positively gruesome noises. “Maybe after I leave you can manage to dig out the macaroni pot and fill it with water in the basement. And he used to have sort of a dog bed thing filled with wood chips back at Manticore, but he destroyed it in the car ride up here… I think he got bored. So if you can get him something like that, it’d be good. He can sleep on what’s left of the boxes for now.”

23 had finished his steak, and now was nudging Alec’s hip with his snout. Alec rubbed his fingers through his feathers absentmindedly. “I think that’s all I need to tell you,” he said doubtfully. “He really is sweet, Max.” 

Alec bent down to smoosh his face against 23’s, speaking in goobery baby talk once again. “You’re just one great big goofball, aren’t you? Yes you are. You big goofy goofball, 23.” He kissed the dinosaur in the middle of snout, between the nostrils and eyes. Max felt embarrassed for him, but mostly amused. Alec seemed completely unaware that he was behaving in any way oddly toward a dinosaur. Obviously everyone treats their pet dinosaurs this way. Pet dinosaurs were apparently totally normal in Alec’s world, and it was standard to treat them like they were stumbling pug puppies.

“I’ve gotta go on a widdle trip, okay 23? It’s just gonna be a teensy three or four days. I gotta so we can keep you safe. Maxie’s gonna take good care of you while I’m gone.”

23 made a soft keening sort of noise, that made it seem like maybe he really did understand what Alec was saying. But that was silly. More likely he was responding to the silly cooing baby voice he was using, as well as how emotive his face was. Domesticated animals can read human expressions to varying degrees, so it was likely 23 could do that as well.

Finally Alec stood up and faced Max. “Any questions about anything else?”

“Uh… Yeah. How do I keep him from eating me?”

“He won’t! See? He’s just a big puppy with feathers!”

“We have cat DNA, Alec. We don’t really do puppies. I’ve never taken care of one.”

Both 23 and Alec huffed. “Just take care of him. Joshua can help. But seriously now it’s been like 45 minutes and it’s not gonna take Manticore forever to get to this neighborhood and spot my car. So just… Don’t kill him, okay?”

“Ugh, I won’t, Alec. Fine! This is all your fault anyway.”

“You just love to remind me of that, don’t you?”

“Every time,” Max smiled, and 23 started bumping his snout against her hip, the same way he’d done with Alec. Alec sighed, looking back once more, before dashing out the front door.

23 bounded after him, and tried to look out the frosted front windows. Max hoped he wouldn’t get frustrated and try to smash them, but instead the dinosaur bounded upstairs in a search for better windows. Max found him in the bathroom, staring out the small, round window next to the sink, watching Alec’s car disappear down the road. He made that soft, keening sound again and it sounded sad and pathetic.

Max expected 23 to go on some sort of rampage now. That he’d be angry that Alec had left him and he’d destroy everything in sight and she’d have to push him down the basement steps again, but that didn’t happen. Alec must’ve left him in motels occasionally along the road, Max realized. How else did he go off and steal all that meat?

23 watched at the window for several minutes, then became distracted by the waste bin on the other side of the sink. He snuffled into it for almost a whole minute, then came up with the whole thing stuck on the end of his nose.

Max suppressed a giggle. Then, plainly unsure of how he wound up in this predicament, or how to get the trash can off his face, 23 shook his head violently, sending the bin and its contents flying into the bathroom wall with a BANG.

Despite her fear that the dinosaur would react badly to the sound, Max could hold back her laughter no longer and positively howled. 23 swung his head around and looked at her, then threw back his head and emitted a high pitched, continuous growl. It wasn’t exactly a howl, but it sure looked like that’s what the dinosaur was trying to do. Which just made Max laugh harder, which had 23 howling more in earnest, until Max’s ribs started to ache.

After all this, she thought 23 must be really thirsty, and made her way downstairs to the large mess in the living room. 23 followed her dutifully, and when Max began digging through the broken floorboards, 23 shoved his nose underneath and began shoving them out of the way.

“Well, let me know if you find your water dish then,” Max rolled her eyes.

23 let out a nasally bark and almost appeared to nod his head.

“You know, 23,” she said. “Manticore likes to call us all by numbers like they own us or something. But I’m starting to side with Alec and I think you’ve got more spunk than that. You deserve a name. 23…. 23….” Max thought out loud. What name sounded enough like 23 that the dinosaur would easily get used to it.

She continued thinking and repeating his designation even after finding Joshua’s large macaroni pot.

“23… 23… 23…” she said, waiting for the pot to fill in the kitchen sink.

Hearing his designation, the dinosaur watched Max attentively.

“Ah,” said Max at last. “How ‘bout we call you Fifi? That’s a good little dino name, isn’t it, Fifi?”

The dinosaur clucked, and lapped up some water, before looking back to Max. Max grabbed the pot and headed back to the basement. “C’mon, Fifi,” she tested out the name.

The dinosaur followed along immediately, dashing downstairs back to the nest of cardboard boxes and rubble he had made for himself. Max placed the water nearby, and went over to where Fifi was curled up. She ran her hands through his feathers and he keened appreciatively. 

“I wonder what Joshua’s gonna think of you?”


	4. Chapter Four

Alec kept glancing in his rearview mirror, half expecting 23 to come bounding down the road after him, but of course that didn’t happen. 23 was safely back at Joshua’s under Max’s care. It’d only been four minutes, but he wondered how it was going, imagining 23 clucking expectantly at Max while she stared at him helplessly.

It’ll be fine, he told himself. Max was almost competent and taking care of wayward mutants was what gave her life meaning.

Ten minutes later and Alec was thinking that however well Max might be getting on with 23, she had to be doing better at her job than the Manticore goons who were tasked with tracking him. I mean, the only way his ridiculous red convertible could be more conspicuous was if he’d had the top down and 23 hanging his feathered head out the side, tongue lolling out.

“Figure out your jobs and just find me already, guys,” Alec mumbled, turning toward South Market Street. He was eager to get out of town and get this whole charade over with. Maybe they’d be staked out here, expecting him to stop for supplies, he theorized, putting the car in park.

They’d probably know he already had food, plus Alec wasn’t keen on buying anything so bulky here, so he headed for a stall of black market prescription drugs. Most of the D-series group had trouble with joint pain and arthritis, and would receive anti-inflammatory drugs. 23 had seemed in good spirits and was bounding along happily when he left, so he was probably all right despite his tumbles through the floor and down the stairs, but Alec could pick him up something in case he was getting stiff by the time he got back.

Alec scanned his surroundings for anyone casually observing him as he paid. Nothing. No wonder he’d somehow made it to Seattle despite crossing several state lines with a tail. These guys should be on him. He had no illusions that they would know _exactly_ which X5 they were looking for.

 

_By now 494 and 798 were so used to sneaking out of bed to play with the dinosaurs they hardly worried about consequences or being caught. They’d long since been reclassified as X5R, for whatever that was worth, because 494 very much doubted that a successful X5R subject would still feel it prudent to wander the facility at night without permission._

_He and 798 knew all the guard shifts, all the key pad codes, and all the secret hallways and offices to hide in if necessary. It was routine by now._

_He entered the code on the keypad, and the door wooshed open to the humidity of the dinosaur’s lush, artificial basement environment. Their tails whacked against the sides of their cages with metallic clangs, and 19 bellowed her honking barks in excitement._

_Honestly, Manticore would throw an absolute shit fit with torture laden punishments if they knew two of their X5Rs were sneaking out and playing with the dinosaurs several times a month, but it was an enriching experience that was nothing but good for the D-Program._

_Why the scientists didn’t think it’d be a good idea to send the dinos out to play in the yard with the other X-series and Psy-Ops units, 494 didn’t understand. It’s not like the D-series would be able to get out, what with all the prison-like fencing surrounding the base. He felt a little sad that they’d never been outside to see the sky, or feel the sun on their faces._

_But at least he and 798 could come down and play with them. It was hard to believe he was ever afraid. Granted, he’d been sliced accidentally a couple times. Both 21 and 23 had gotten him with their razor-sharp toe claws. Both times they’d immediately stopped what they were doing to check he was okay, licking at the blood and making sympathetic wheezing sounds. The dinosaurs were safe to deal with. The bigger trick had been explaining the undocumented injuries the next day._

_He and 798 both had their favorites. She and 19 would occasionally cuddle up and fall asleep in the ferns. 494 had to wake them up so they could leave before the next guard shift. 494 got on best with 23. He would nuzzle his feathered face into 494’s armpit until he fell to the ground, then 23 would toss his head down next to him, and roll over, giant clawed chicken feet waving in the air. 494 would tickle him, then spring up for a chase game, and they would jump to the highest branches they could in the underground park._

_Tonight 798 was waving a large, uprooted fern in front of 19 and 21’s faces, playing sort of an altered version of peek-a-boo. 23 and 494 were sopping wet from leaping into the shallow pond and splashing each other enthusiastically. Suddenly 798 froze._

_“Shhh,” she held her finger to her lips. “Stop it. 23 you too, quiet. Shhh.”_

_494 didn’t move. He became horribly conscious of how much noise the water dripping off his face and hair was making. 23 turned to give him a quizzical look, and 494 pointedly repeated 798’s gesture of placing his finger to his lips._

_798 looked over at them and shook her head grimly._

_“Back to bed, dinos,” she whispered. “All done. Bedtime.”_

_19 still wanted to play, and rolled around in the grass happily. “19, bedtime. Back to bunks, dinos, let’s go.”_

_494 began ushering 23 back to his cage as well, but the dinosaurs knew that this was earlier than usual and were all reluctant to follow orders._

_By now even 494 could hear the footsteps approaching. It took all his willpower not to just yell at 23 to get back to his cage. “Nighty night, 23,” he whispered, drawing out the syllables in a singsong way. “Time for dino beddy-bye.”_

_23 turned his head away resolutely, but he did slowly start his way back to his cage._

_Too late. The door clicked and swooshed open, and there was a black-haired woman in a lab coat standing in the hallway, her jaw dropped practically to the floor._

_She somehow managed to maintain her grip on her coffee mug._

_494 and 798 stopped trying to get the dinosaurs back into their cages and just stared, panic stricken at the woman._

_“Wha—Who are? What are you doing down here?”_

_“Um…” said 798._

_“You’re… X5?”_

_“Um…” 494 echoed 798._

_“Do. D-d-do you have? Clearance?” the poor scientist stammered. She clearly wasn’t used to dealing with human subjects._

_“Um, yeah,” 798 bluffed. “They send us down here sometimes, y’know. To keep the D-series socialized and stuff.”_

_“I don’t have any notes on that,” the woman muttered. “Where do they keep data on your interactions? I’d be interested in that? You have_ 21 _out of her cage? There should be some sort of supervision. I don’t know about it.”_

_She wasn’t even looking at them as she spoke without pausing, shuffling through papers on one of the desks, presumably her desk._

_“Well, ah,” 494 continued from where 798 left off. “There used to be more supervision but, everything’s been going smoothly, so… People want to go home this time of night, you know? But we’ve kept on with the assignment. We’re just getting the guys back to bed now. Right dinos? Bedtime.”_

_He waved his hands, signaling the dinosaurs to head back to their cages. 19 had already made her way back and was curling up to sleep. 494 closed the door, and looked at the scientist smugly._

_His face fell when he noticed she was typing something on the computer. She could be typing anything, he told himself. She came back in here for some reason, she’s probably just checking on whatever files she needed while working late._

_But in his gut he knew she was sending a memo to security. That very moment they were busted._

_They had no choice but to continue getting the dinosaurs back in their cages, and then try to get out of there as quickly as possible, before the guards could get down there. Running now would be too incriminating to think about. At least if they could get out clean, they could maybe still bluff their way out of things._

_At least that’s what 494 wanted to believe._

_But there was no such program where X-series were socializing the dinosaurs. There was no reason in the world that two X5Rs would be unsupervised in the basement in the middle of the night._

_Even if they got away now, they’d be tracked down later._

_But the worst part was the realization that he’d never be able to come down and see 23 or the others again._

_23 reluctantly climbed back in his cage, dopey grin on his face. 494 ran his hand over his mohawk of feathers. “Goodbye 23. Sleep tight.” He spoke around the knot in his throat._

_When they met the guards in the hallway, he played off like the tears in his eyes were out of fear from his punishment, but all he could think about was 23 back in his cage, waiting for the next time they could climb around the lab at night. Expecting 494 to return, but he never would._

_Both he and 798 were forced into a month of disciplinary training, before being transferred to the Seattle base, where there were no dinosaurs to tempt them into nighttime wanderings._

 

Alec shoved the anti-inflammatory meds in his jacket pocket and turned to make a loop around the market when he noticed someone near his car. A guy in jeans that were just a bit too nice, a red ball cap, and sunglasses was trying to peer in through the back windows. Which Alec had covered with black trash bags for dinosaur hiding purposes, so good luck, buddy. Alec had felt a little bad about depriving 23 of the view the entire drive up from Arizona, but then he’d spent his entire life in a basement, so he was used to a lack of windows.

So Manticore had found the car. Good. Alec didn’t need to waste anymore time waiting for them to show up. He pulled his hood over his head and waited for Red Ball Cap to bugger off to whatever surveillance point he’d set up around here. Once he had, Alec sauntered up to the car and as casually as it was possible to do, drove through the fence separating Seattle from the rest of the world, bypassing the sector check point.

Machine gun fire followed him out of town. Alec almost said, “Haha! Whadaya think of my driving now, 23?” before he remembered he wasn’t in the car with him anymore.

The painfully unsubtle method of skipping town would ensure Manticore would follow him and leave 23 peacefully hidden in Seattle. But now he was alone, speeding down an empty road toward Canada.

* * * *

Alec pulled off the road forty minutes later, actually taking some effort to hide his car. He didn’t want Manticore to find it, but there was no way he was getting it across the Canadian border. He planned to get across on foot. He ditched the car.

Would Manticore find the car? Maybe. He’d have to steal another for the return trip anyway. Would they find it implausible that he’d try to sneak across the Canadian border on foot with a dinosaur in tow? Probably. He remembered Max’s suggestion of taking 23 out for walkies, and smiled to himself.

His plan depended on Manticore assuming he’d taken 23 to be his pet somewhere in the woods in Canada, then to ditch their tail and he could head for home. But seriously, they’d been tailing him across state lines and they’d very obviously followed him out of Seattle. What was keeping them at bay? Were they afraid of the dinosaur? He doubted it. It just didn’t make any sense. He almost wanted them to catch him, just so he could figure out what gives.

It took Alec longer than he’d have liked to hide the car. There weren’t as many decent branches around as he’d expected and honestly he’d expected Manticore to just jump out and grab him at any moment, all weirdness in their tracking methods aside.

But they didn’t, and Alec crept though the trees for miles until he wasn’t even totally sure where the border was. Did it even matter if he crossed or not at this point? Red Ball Cap guy was probably on the other side already looking for him there. Finally he came to a wide strip of trees that were oddly younger than all trees in the surrounding area. The formerly well kept, and now unmanaged border between he US and Canada. A chain link fence lay flat in the grass, rusted and small, with yearling trees growing between the links. The Canadian government had put it up to cull the tide of post-pulse refuges, but it had long ago fallen down, and the border went back to its former levels of patrol. And effort was made, but ultimately not kept up.

Alec looked around for any sign of a red ball cap through the trees as he stepped over the old fence. Nothing. Hopefully that meant there was nothing, because at this moment it was very obvious Alec didn’t have a deinonychus on a leash with him.

Alec walked about ten more miles before stopping and climbing a tree to spend a rough, uncomfortable night. Tomorrow he’d set about setting up some tell tale signs of a dinosaur running around the forest for Manticore to find.

* * * *

“Hey! What are you doing up there?”

Alec started awake and nearly fell out of the tree. He was twenty feet up a blue spruce, who’s short needles dug into his palms as he reached out to catch himself. Peering through the branches he could see the guy yelling up at him, but barely. How had he even spotted him way up here?

Then he looked closer. He held himself in that familiar, military way Alec knew all too well. He’d lost his hat and shades, but it was Red Ball Cap, standing in the middle of the woods in Canada, shouting at Alec from the base of a huge tree. Crap.

“Where’s your pet?”

“What?” Alec shouted down.

“Your pet. Where’d you stash him?”

“I don’t have any pets,” said Alec.

“Bullshit.”

“What do you want?”

“You stashed him with her, we know you did. Tell us where she lives and give us the dinosaur, and we’ll let you go.”

“What?”

Who the hell was he talking about, Alec wondered. Who was this she?

Red Ball Cap might be Psy-ops, because the next thing he said was, “Tell us where 798 is, and we’ll let you go.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long delay in updating! Moving temporally ate my life.

It’d been two days since Joshua had finished relocating his painting canvases and supplies to an upstairs bedroom. When he’d come downstairs, he’d found a giant mess of plaster still in his living room, Alec gone, and a ten-foot deinonychus left under Max’s care. Which essentially meant the dinosaur was at least half his responsibility given Max wouldn’t be taking the animal home with her.

“I’m gonna stay here until Alec gets back,” Max said reassuringly. “He introduced me to Fifi, and he’s not bad actually. It’ll be okay.”

Joshua crossed his arms and grumped. “Where’s _Fifi_ now?”

“Sleeping in the basement.”

“Alec didn’t clean.”

“I know,” Max sighed. Really, he’d had at least an hour to get the mess of the living room taken care of and he’d not even made a dent. “I think if this were his house, he’d just leave everything just like it is until the day he moved out. I’ll take care of it.”

“I’ll help, Little Fella,” Joshua said.

To Max’s surprise, the project went fairly quickly once people were like, actually cleaning and not just standing around being sarcastic. Joshua took his art stuff upstairs to keep it all safe away from curious dinosaurs. Now she, Joshua, and Fifi were falling into a routine.

Around five in the morning Max woke from her makeshift bed on the couch to the now familiar sound of snuffling at the crack under the basement door. She got up to let Fifi out and he nudged her hip affectionately before bounding through the kitchen to the back door, and chirping for Max to hurry up.

“All right, I’m coming. Hold your horses, Fifi. Aren’t you guys supposed to figure out how to open doors yourselves? That’s totally in a movie, Fifi.”

Fifi chuffed happily at the sound of his name, but still bounced impatiently at the door until Max caught up to let him out. The screen door creaked and slammed behind him. At first Max had supervised him diligently despite the fenced in backyard. She didn’t know if he would dig or jump or bite through the damn fence… Anything he could’ve done to get out, the thought crossed her mind. But it didn’t seem like the thought that a world outside Joshua’s backyard might even exist had crossed Fifi’s mind. He seemed fascinated enough by the surroundings he had, and did nothing to seek more.

Max turned back into the kitchen and pulled a large steak from the refrigerator and dropped it into a pan on the floor.

Fifi spent a few minutes doing his business and checking the perimeter of the yard for any mice or rabbits to gobble up, before eagerly returning to the door. He knew it was time for breakfast.

He made a variety of unsavory noises as he devoured his food, then looked to Max as though he expected seconds.

“No way, buddy. You made a big enough mess with just one breakfast.”

Once again Fifi made Max question how well he could understand English, as she could swear he was looking at her mournfully. He had little flecks of partially chewed meat stuck in his feathers, however, so it wasn’t very convincing. Max went at him with a washcloth. Fifi chipped and snapped at her.

Max bopped him on the nose. “Put your teeth away,” she scolded. “If you don’t like it then don’t be such a slob.”

Fifi tilted his head imploringly.

“Well that’s it for breakfast.” Max stroked down his now clean mohawk of feathers, and Fifi nuzzled into her armpit.

Finally Max had to move on with her morning. She started wiping up the rest of the meat splatter off the walls and the floor around Fifi’s dish. Fifi licked at it helpfully, getting slobber everywhere, before wandering off to Joshua’s first floor bedroom. He curled up at the foot of the bed.

Now accompanied only by the snores of two canine hybrid mutants, Max brewed herself some coffee, fried some eggs, and toasted some bread. She had almost two hours before she needed to be at work, and she curled up back on the couch with her breakfast and one of the Stephen King novels she’d bought for Joshua.

It was so relaxing it was downright domestic.

When she got back from work for the day, Joshua had a proposal. “I don’t think Fifi needs to sleep in the basement,” said Joshua, with a bit of a growl as he thought of the basement at Manticore. “Fifi can stay upstairs. Sleep in my room like he does in the morning.”

Max smiled in agreement. “Yeah okay. But I’m gonna bring some of his nesting stuff and put it upstairs. He made that space; it’s his. And if he gets in your way he’ll still have a place to go.”

Thus the evening was spent hauling Fifi’s claimed things from the basement and putting them in the corner of Joshua’s bedroom. It was a nice space, wedged between a bookshelf and the wall, so Fifi could feel cozy and safe.

“What do you think, Fifi?” Max asked.

The dinosaur honked in approval, turning himself in circles in his nest several times before plopping down and curling his tail around himself. Taking care of Fifi was a lot easier than Max had anticipated. He’d grown up in a basement laboratory, so it seemed he was used to sleeping a lot of the day away.

Then Max’s pager went off. Alec.

* * * *  
 _One Day Earlier_

Alec was gagged and tied to a chair in a cabin somewhere near the Canadian/American border. A fire crackled happily in the fireplace, setting the room in a warm glow that 100% did not match the tone of the conversation happening inside.

“Stop lying and tell me where she is. Did you already stash your dinosaur with her or not? Tell me about 798.” Red Ball Cap pulled the gag from Alec’s mouth.

“What’s to tell? Listen, I’ve told you, 798 and I weren’t given any training sessions or mealtimes together once we were transferred to Seattle. They didn’t think we were a good influence on each other or something.”

“Where is she?”

“I haven’t seen her since we were in Phoenix. _Before_ the Seattle fire. She didn’t come with me to get D-023 out. I don’t know where she is.”

“Bullshit. You’re colluding with her to get the DP-series out. ”

Alec sighed.

“Last I heard she broke out of Manticore about a year ago. Beyond that I don’t know. She wasn’t with me and we’re not in contact.”

Red Ball Cap stared hard at Alec.

“C’mon, you’re psy-ops. Do some head thing on me that proves I’m telling the truth. You guys should be able to figure that out, right?”

“Be quiet!” The guy continued to stare intently at Alec.

“What, they didn’t train you boys to concentrate on a task over there at psy-ops? C’mon, I know I’m good looking, but I can’t be distracting you that much, can I?”

Alec had no intention of shutting up anytime soon. He concentrated on the truth half of his half truth, and continued to be as obnoxious as possible. 

“Is it the sound of my voice? I always wondered if I’d be a good singer. I sang karaoke once out on a mission. The ladies liked it, but y’know, with a face like mine it’s hard to tell if it was my singing ability or my mere existence.”

“WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP? I’ll gag you again!”

Alec grinned. “I dunno. What do you think? I’m sure I’m gonna be tone deaf without any backing music, but I’ll give it a go.” He took in a large breath before belting, “I like big butts and I cannot lie, you other brothers can’t deny, when a girl walks in with a itty bitty waist and a round thing in yo face you get sprung! Wanna pull—“

“SHUT. THE HELL. UP!” Red Ball Cap slapped Alec hard across the face.

“You know where she is,” Ball Cap growled. “Damn it, you were supposed to lead me to her. That’s why I didn’t take you out way back in Arizona. It’s true she got out before the fire, but you’ve got information on that. You also know exactly where the D-023 is. You got a safe house somewhere around here? Where is it?”

“Yeah yeah, thanks for filling me in on your mission specs, by the way. Sloppy.” Alec gave him the coordinates to Logan’s family cabin. Ball Cap narrowed his eyes and Alec focused as hard as he could on the fact that he could potentially use that cabin as a safe house, and tried to obscure the fact that he currently wasn’t by thinking as loudly as he could the rest of the lyrics to Baby Got Back.

Ball Cap shoved the gag back in Alec’s mouth. “I’ll just let you sit for awhile until you can remember the truth then.”

* * * *

Alec watched the embers in the fire cool and die out, the sun rose to shine through the east windows and to presumably set on the other side. Although there were no windows on that side of the cabin, Alec could still track the passage of time by the lengthening shadows. He’d long since managed to spit the gag out of his mouth, but the ropes around his wrists were tied with Manticore expertise, and he was still working on them by the time Red Ball Cap returned. 

“Oh good, you’re back. Mind giving me a hand with these ropes?”

“Quit being cheeky. It isn’t cute.”

“Are you ever gonna tell me your name or anything? I’m getting sick of thinking of you as Red Ball Cap. Especially seeing as you’ve taken it off so that isn’t even accurate anymore.”

Currently Hatless glared and pulled out his hat, jamming it on his head.

“Talk about cheeky,” said Alec.

“You ready to talk? You seem awfully chatty.”

“Well you have left me alone in a room for, what, eighteen hours? I’m bored. And hungry. Did you bring any food or anything? This might be a human rights violation. Of course I’m not human, so they might give you a pass.”

“Tell me about X5-798, or I go back to that house on Euclid street and let Manticore know everything I find. Whatever’s there isn’t the mission, but I sure as hell can use it as leverage for the mission. And I do think Ames White would be interested in whatever’s at that location.”

Alec weighed his options. On one hand there was Jace, who he knew next to nothing about, and when he told Red Ball Cap what he knew, she’d still be fairly safe. On the other hand there was Max and Joshua and 23, who were all immediately susceptible to whatever this guy could dish out. It was obvious was he was about to do.

“Well?”

“Read my mind all you like. 798 is in Mexico, or at least she had a bus ticket there last time she was heard from. She has a kid. I came by all this information second hand, so I don't personally verify any of its accuracy.”

“You really weren’t bringing her the dinosaur?”

“I really wasn’t.”

“She and you were the two who always messed with the dinosaurs.”

“We were. I’m sure she’d have loved it if I’d brought her a dinosaur. Your handlers’ thinking was legit, but that’s not what was happening. I don’t have any specifics on her whereabouts other than you went in the exact wrong direction. Why are they so obsessed with you tracking her down anyway?”

“You said it. She has a kid. Or at least she does if her pregnancy didn’t have any complications.”

“Okay. So… Are you gonna help me out with these ropes then?”

“Once the information is extracted, my orders are to call in Ames White’s team.”

“And you should definitely do that. Keep your head down, stay out of trouble. Just… How about if you loosen the ropes a bit first? No one has to know.”

Red Ball Cap gulped. He took out a sat phone and called in the coordinates. Alec gave him his most charming look. No one has to know, he mouthed at him again, almost flirtatiously. Ball Cap chewed the inside of his lip.

Without a word he loosened the knot on one of Alec’s wrists, but replaced the gag in his mouth. He turned and nodded before leaving the cabin and heading back to wherever his rendezvous was.

Alec had minutes to escape. He finished loosening the knot on the one hand and pulled it free, starting to work on the other hand. He could hear the helicopter landing in the field outside. And while the guy from psy-ops had been on a very specific mission, White was gonna want him and 23. That is if he’d heard about 23.

He hoped he hadn’t heard about 23.

He’d just gotten his hands and feet untied, and was slipping his wrists back into the (now quite loose) ropes, when a bunch of SWAT looking guys burst into the small room.

“Hey hey, chill out guys. It’s just me, and I’m tied up. No need to bring in the big guns.”

The lead soldier rolled his eyes at Alec before reaching to untie him and get him handcuffed for transport. At the last possible second Alec yanked out his arms, punching the two guys closest square in the face.

They stumbled back. Alec leapt up to sweep the legs out from the next two to run into the fray. Fortunately for Alec, the small size of the cabin kept him from having to fight off two many soldiers at once.

Out the window he could see Ames White walking across the field. In front of his Manticore goons, Ames couldn’t reveal himself by putting up a real fight, but he had the ability to call in as many reenforcements as he liked. Plus, the guy once stuck a bomb in Alec’s head, so he wasn’t real fond.

It was just him and one other soldier remaining, although one of the first two he knocked out seemed to be coming to. Alec reached down and took the soldier’s cell phone. He’d be needing to make a call after this. The last guy, actually a girl, was blocking the door.

“Well, it’s been real fun,” Alec said. “Next time call ahead and I’ll have chips and dip ready.”

“Wha—?”

“Gotta jet.” Alec ducked past her in a burst of X5 speed, then dashed around to the other side of the cabin, pressing himself against the wall.

Shit shit shit.

Ames White was not ten feet away. He couldn’t see Alec from this vantage point, but Alec wasn’t going to be able to run for the woods without being seen until Ames was inside the cabin. Then he’d see all his men unconscious, and he’d be out of there. He’d see Alec running for the tree line. There was no way Alec was going to make it unseen.

So he ran for it.

* * * *

It took a few hours walking before Alec found a location where he got a decent cell signal. Predictably, it took Max far too long to call back. Damn it. White would know he had this phone by now and would be able to trace his calls. He needed to talk to Max and ditch the phone ASAP.

Ten minutes later it buzzed in his hand.

“Max! About time.”

“I had to go up the block to a pay phone. What?”

“Long story. Jace is compromised. Do you have a way to contact her?”

“How did you manage to give up Jace?”

“I told you it’s a long story and White’ll be tracking this phone. Just… Warn her if you can. I gotta go. Say hi to 23 for me.”

“Fine. Idiot. And we’re calling him Fifi now.”

“Fifi? You’ve gotta be kidding me Max.”

“He likes it. Be careful. Ditch the damn phone.”

“Obviously.”

Alec ended the call and tossed the phone into a sewer grate, letting the rushing water take it far from his location.

* * *

Max hung up the phone and leaned her head against the dirty metal of the phone box. This close up she could almost see that it had been blue at one point in time. If Jace had had her baby, it’d be around four months old by now. 

Fifi, she thought, you’re a great dinosaur, but I really don’t think you’re worth all this.


	6. Chapter Six

Logan was 100% positive Max was having him on with a poorly conceived, elaborate prank as he pulled up to Joshua’s house. There was all the usual stuff about Manticore and Alec creating a crisis and somewhat plausibly Jace was involved, but Logan refused to believe any of it considering the repeated mentions of a dinosaur. Sure, he hadn’t seen much of Max in the last week. She’d been preoccupied with something, and this was her excuse-slash-her backwards way of flirting. Or something. Logan honestly didn’t know what to make of it, but the one thing he was certain of: There was no way there was a dinosaur whom they’d “really warmed up to now. He’s even started sleeping at the foot of Joshua’s bed, how cute is that?”

No. Way.

So when Logan knocked on Joshua’s front door, he was in no way prepared for who answered. Not a human. Not even a part human, part dog man. Rather, a ten foot long, waist high deinonychus bounded from across the house, attempted to stop very gracefully, but of course slid across the smooth wood floors until his face skidded across the screen of the storm door, barely inches from Logan’s face.

Logan stepped back. He dropped the laptop he was carrying. Logan continued to stare straight ahead at the impossible creature in front of him, who had apparently just discovered that screens give a very interesting sensory experience when you rub your face all over them.

The dinosaur wasn’t looking at him, which was good. It gave Logan the chance to assess whether or not he’d peed himself. He hadn’t. Good job, Logan. He also noticed that his heart was still beating, despite the definite feeling he’d gotten that it’d ceased. He had not yet begun breathing again. He wondered exactly how fast he could run in the exoskeleton, but had a feeling it wouldn’t be as fast as a velociraptor, or whatever this was.

“Hey Logan.”

Max was standing behind the… the dinosaur. He hadn’t noticed before. Or hadn’t seen when she’d gotten there. Oh my god, she was standing right next to the dinosaur! Max. NO.

Logan had to reassess his heart beating and his pants dryness. The dinosaur was still pretty consumed with the screen. Which seemed odd really. How long can an animal be interested in something like that? But, he rationalized rather quickly, his body was flooded with adrenalin, and in reality it’d been less than a minute since he’d knocked on the door.

How many more minutes did he have to live before the dinosaur ate his head off? Or maybe gutted him open and ate him alive like Dr. Grant described in _Jurassic Park_.

“C’mon Fifi, knock it off,” Max said, hip checking the dinosaur out of the way. She opened the door for Logan to come inside.

Logan didn’t.

“Max! Let’s… C’mon before it… you can get away! Close the door!”

“Logan?” Max scrunched her eyebrows.

“Close the door. Close the door Max. Close the door.” Logan knew the barely audible sounds that were scratching their way out of his mouth sounded pathetic, but SHE HAD TO CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR THERE WAS A… A… DINOSAUR. WHATEVER. TEETH AND CLAWS. AND TEETH.

His brain was screaming at him, now that there wasn’t even flimsy metal and plastic barricading him from the TEETH. GET AWAY FROM THE TEETH WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY RUN.

Logan backed down the steps, his blood feeling as though it’d gone cold, but now that he was moving he could feel the warmth gathering back in his hands, and presumably his feet too if he could’ve felt them. RUN!

Logan ran. “Max, close the door, get outta here!”

* * * *

Max caught up with Logan half a block down the road. She dodged in front of him, blocking his path to stop him.

“Logan, where the hell are you going?”

“There was… teeth.”

“Yeah, I told you about Fifi, remember?”

“I didn’t think that part of the story was true. Honestly it shed suspicion on the veracity of the rest of the story. I mean that’s so ridiculous Max. Who just has a dinosaur?”

“Apparently Manticore had a whole pack of ‘em.”

“And who just keeps one in their house?”

“He and Joshua get along really well. They both have canine DNA.”

“You don’t.”

“No, but I have human DNA, and humans tend to get along with dogs. Jesus Logan,” Max rolled her eyes. “Just come meet Fifi, and hopefully your laptop’s okay, so we can actually work out a plan to contact Jace.”

Logan turned to head back toward the house. “I have a contact who should be near where she wound up. Unless she bought another ticket after she arrived. But it’s a good place to start anyway.”

“That’s great Logan. But you’re going to actually move your feet if you’re going to make it in the house from here. I suppose I could carry you, but the exoskeleton is kinda heavy when you’re not the one wearing it. Not to mention I’d have to wrap you in cellophane first.”

Oh. Logan hadn’t realized he wasn’t moving.

His lizard brain was still dead set on staying as far away as possible from the dinosaur.

* * *

Somewhere along the line, Logan wasn’t quite sure how, but he managed to master his calm. So much so that even when he was sitting under the giant hole in Joshua’s ceiling with a ten foot dinosaur repeatedly nosing him in the hip, he could focus on the phone call he was having with his contact in Mexico, and the process of getting a warning to Jace was surprisingly uncomplicated. Which was fantastic, because in Logan’s opinion, having a dinosaur around was complication enough. Fifi nosed at his elbow and made a soft whining sound like a dog vying for attention.

“So Jace is gonna be okay?” Max looked worried, her eyes large as she pet the dinosaur’s feathers.

“Yeah. Well, Dion is going to have to get in touch with her, but he remembers when I first asked to look out for her, and knows where she’s staying. So it shouldn’t be any problem to warn her, and then it’s down to Jace to get out of town without at tail.”

“Not exactly an easy feat with a baby in tow.”

“No, but she’s got 19 years of Manticore training. Let’s be positive, Max.”

Max looked at Logan, the small beads of fear sweat running down his temples, his body tensing every time Fifi brushed against him. Yes, this was the man she’d asked to come help them. She had to smile, and wished she could ruffle his hair. She settled for ruffling Fifi’s feathers. The dinosaur keened and curled up on the floor between them.

* * *

Two days later Alec made it home.

“Twenty Three!” the door banged shut behind him. Fifi exploded from Joshua’s bedroom, leaping onto Alec from chest height. They crashed to the floor, upending a small table covered with books.

Fifi slobber and books rained down around Alec’s head, his chest aching a bit where a dinosaur just hit him at top speed. It was almost like old times at the lab, when they couldn’t get down there for weeks at a time, and then finally visited again after a long break. 23 and the rest would be so excited to see them. Sometimes lab equipment and papers got knocked to the floor, and he and 798 would hope the Manticore staff would just assume the dinosaurs had been responsible the day before and somehow no one’d noticed.

“Hi Alec,” said Joshua, arms crossed over his chest. “Jace and the baby will be okay. Max told me yesterday.”

Alec grinned up from the floor, he could barely see Josh through the feathers and teeth and tongue that kept knocking him in the face. “Good to hear, Big Fella. Max around?”

“Little Fella’s at work. She says Normal’s got it out for you.”

Alec tickled 23 under the ribs. “Yeah, I’ll bet.” 23 flopped his whole weight down on Alec before rolling over onto his back for more tummy rubs. Alec was mindful of the wicked toe claws flailing around wildly in the dinosaur’s glee.

Honestly, Alec couldn’t believe how well this whole endeavor had actually worked out. Granted, there was a hole in Joshua’s ceiling that he was gonna have to figure out how to repair, and the whole bit about Jace having to relocate was a mess. But everyone was gonna be okay, and he had 23 alive and safe away from Manticore.

Alec rubbed his belly vigorously, then rested his face on the soft small feathers that barely covered 23’s chest and tummy. His fuck ups hadn’t killed anyone. He didn’t cry, but he could understand very much how someone could generate tears from happiness.

* * *

_One Month Later_

Max’s pager beeped again, for the third time in ten minutes. “Oh my god, what?” She thought. She was almost done with this Jam Pony run, and then she’d find a pay phone. There was no way Joshua could be having such a large emergency that Max should have to drop anything right this second. If he were, he wouldn’t be able to keep calling.

Max parked her bike in an alley and delivered her package. She was behind schedule, so she was risking a Normal lecture if she detoured two blocks over to the nearest working payphone. But she’d be subject to that kind of annoyance even if she were on time, so that wasn’t much of a deterrent. Reasons why Normal needed to rethink his Be Obnoxious to Everyone at All Times Policy. It really wasn’t affective.

Max dialed, but it wasn’t Joshua’s voice that answered the phone. “Max? Is that you?”

“Jace?”

“I’m here in Seattle. At your friend’s house. Logan’s contact gave me this address; said it’d be a safe meeting point. Twenty Three’s here, but there’s also a ‘nomaly?”

“Joshua? He’s not like a ‘nomaly like we thought when we were kids.”

“Well he looks like a ‘nomaly.”

“Is he all right? You didn’t hurt him or anything?”

“He’s not hurt. Just tied up.”

Max groaned. “Jace, that’s Joshua. That’s his house you’re standing in. Just… Untie him. I’ll be over as soon as I can. You made it up here safe? When Alec came up he said he never noticed the Manticore goons following him.”

“Oh, I noticed them. They’re taken care of.” Max could almost hear her smiling through the phone.

“Okay. Untie Joshua.” Max hung up the phone, jumped on her bike to take off for Joshua’s, then on a second thought she called Alec.

“Max? Everything okay?”

“Jace is at Joshua’s.”

“Seriously? She made it?”

“I’m headed there now,” said Max, then hung up again, this time really taking off. Alec would be there sooner than her, so if Jace continued to have trouble trusting Joshua, or if Joshua held any resentment, Alec could sort all that out. Not that Alec specifically had people skills. He was better than no one.

It would be fine. Jace would untie Josh because it’s his house. And Joshua couldn’t be dangerous, even if angry, because he’d be cautious for the baby. Max took a deep breathe and pedaled faster. She was a couple sectors away, and she couldn’t get there fast enough. To see her sister and the little baby that’d been named after her.

Too much time later, Max ditched her bike in the yard outside Joshua’s house, running up the steps two at a time. There was definitely a lot of commotion going on inside the house. Her heart sank as she pictured Joshua still tied to a chair, and Jace and Alec in a shouting match over him. Fifi hidden behind the big armchair, cowering from the fighting.

But as she opened the door she was greeted by an entirely different scene.

Joshua was in the big armchair, holding a tiny bundle of blankets with little fists waving. Meanwhile Jace and Alec were laughing and tossing a small, pink football back and forth across the room, while two, yes two, deinonychus ran back and forth trying to catch it. Fifi wasn’t as fast at the other dinosaur, and kept nipping at her tail feathers.

Jace saw Max first and dropped the football. The new, bigger dinosaur immediately caught it, and Fifi jumped on her back to wrestle the ball away. The other dinosaur was bigger, and had different feathers. They were dark brown without speckles like Fifi had.

“Max!” Jace’s smile was wide, and she was in every way a different picture of a person than the last time Max had seen her. Life on the outside will do that to you.

“Who’s this? When did you get another dinosaur?” Max said, pulling Jace into a hug. Jace held the hug for a minute before replying.

“I know, I know. You thought I’d have a human baby right?” Jace laughed. “Just kidding. Baby’s over there with Joshua. This is 19. I swung by the Phoenix base on my way here to pick her up. She was always my favorite. If they’re really terminating the D-series, I couldn’t just leave her there.”

“What about the other dinos?” Alec, Fifi, and 19 were still thrashing around gleefully, the sound echoing up through the hole in the ceiling.

“I set ‘em loose,” she smiled. She’d heard about the fire in Seattle. “I know it’s what you’d have done. I dunno how long they’ll last, but they’ve got a chance. I mean, I couldn’t fit all of them in the truck I stole.”

Max nodded.

“Max, you have to come meet Max!” Jace exclaimed, dodging a dinosaur tail and hopping over to Joshua. He gave her the baby, who wiggled and cooed.

“Good baby,” said Joshua. “Good Littlest Fella.”

“Fella? The baby’s a girl,” Jace said, tilting the baby for Max to see. “Another little girl named Maxy.”

“Joshua and I call each other Fella,” Max explained, beaming down at the little one in front of her. “Nicknames for each other.”

Baby Maxy had dark brown eyes like her mother’s, that seemed like deep wells of wisdom. She blew a spit bubble and cooed again, waving her little fists around.

“Do you wanna hold her?” asked Jace.

Max didn’t know what to say. Of course she did, but she was so overwhelmed by everything. Two genetically engineered dinosaurs, running around the house like happy puppies. One of her best friends sitting serenely and calm in his favorite chair, in his home where all of them felt safe, and her other friend running around happily with the dinos. They were licking Alec’s face now, while he pet one with each hand.

And her sister was here. One of the ones left behind was away from Manticore, and her mind was her own. She’d had a little baby and the both of them were healthy and safe and beautiful. Jace seemed almost glowing and she handed Max the squirming bundle of blankets and limbs.

The baby was a comfortable weight in Max’s arms. Warm and soft and fitting just right. 

“Here’s your niece, Maxy,” said Jace, booking the baby’s nose. “Maxy, here’s your aunty Max. You owe everything to her. She’s the one who got us out. You’d be a lab rat if it weren’t for her.” Jace swallowed back emotion and bit her lip.

“It was nothing,” said Max. “You’d have done it for me.”

“I wouldn’t have. You remember.”

“You, in your own mind, not Manticore… You would have.”

“I don’t know how 494… Sorry, Alec… How he got through the brainwashing so easily. He’s stronger than me.”

Alec got up and came to look at the baby. “Nah, they gave us X5Rs a reprogramming update at the Seattle base as soon as she was recaptured. Couldn’t have us going for her throat every time we saw her in the halls. So that wasn’t strength of will, that was just Manticore. You’re not weak.” He waggled his fingers in front of baby Maxy’s face. She tried to grab them.

“Well regardless, I’m grateful to you, Max. And I’m so happy to be here right now. I’ve got my daughter and my sister. 19 and 23 are back and so is 4—Alec. I just—“

Alec nodded. “It’s a little overwhelming to get more than you realized you could want.”

“Hey,” said Max. “We gotta think of a name for 19. I started calling 23, Fifi, and he took to it right away.”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Yeah, that’s when I was in Canada. I had nothing to do with that name. I claim no responsibility. I’m so, so sorry, Fifi, that this was the name you’ve been saddled with.”

Max punched him in the arm.

 

* * *

The dinosaurs were fed and galavanting around the backyard. The screen door in the kitchen was open, so they could come in and out as they pleased. Joshua was busy making macaroni and cheese with little cut up hot dogs, while the X5s and Original Cindy sat at the table watching the dinosaurs, Jace nursing baby Maxy.

“I still can’t believe that _this_ is why you ain’t been home so much this past month, Max,” said Original Cindy.

“I told you Alec brought back a Manticore mutant with dinosaur DNA.”

“Yeah. But I was picturing like a scale-y dude with claws for fingers. These are actual dinosaurs. Y’all got yourselves pet dinosaurs.”

“We could call her Nautilus,” Jace suggested. “Although I suppose that doesn’t sound a whole lot similar to Nineteen. I just like it.”

“It should end with an N sound, I think,” said Alec. “That’s the sound that leaves the last impression when you hear it. The middle doesn’t matter as much.”

“Madeline?” suggested Max.

“Hmmm, I dunno,” said Jace. “What do you think, Joshua?”

“Natalie. Or Nadine. Nineteen is more rambunctious than Fifi,” he noted.

“As if we could’ve even thought that possible,” said Max. “Hmm, Nadine Nineteen. Nadine Nineteen. They do kind of sound alike. What do you think Jace?”

“I could get used to calling her Nadine,” she said, moving the baby to her shoulder to burp.

“Alec, where do you weigh in?”

“Hey, anything’s better than Fifi. Joshua, I think you should take Max’s spot as the one who gets to name everyone. You’re way better at it.”

“Oh shut up. I named you, ass.”

“You named me ass?”

Max punched his shoulder again. Original Cindy laughed.

“Ow. Stop. You’re going to instill your aggressive nature on the baby,” Alec whined.

“I’m sure little Maxy will be fine,” said Jace. “And Alec is a nice name. Max did good.”

“You did good, getting Nadine all the way up here without being followed. The same can’t be said for some other idiot I know.”

“Hey, if I hadn’t bungled that job, Jace, Maxy, and Nadine all wouldn’t be here right now.”

This was true, but Max didn’t want to give Alec the satisfaction. How he managed to screw up every job and still wind up on top Max didn’t know. Actually she did. It was because she and Logan were always there to bail him out. Speaking of…

“Hey, is Logan coming over?” Alec asked. “You’d think he’d want to see Jace and the baby. Be happy he helped rescue them and all.”

“He is. Said he was working on some Eyes Only thing and then would be right over. I think he’s nervous about being around two dinosaurs.”

“Oh come on,” said Jace. “They’re harmless! I mean, well, they have claws and all. But they’re mostly really careful.”

Max laughed. “I think it’s the ‘mostly’ that’s got Logan concerned. Anyway, he’ll be here eventually. He might be hoping the dinosaurs are asleep by then.”

“Mac and cheese is ready,” Joshua announced, plating food and bringing it to the table. Fifi and Nadine came careening and crashing through the door at the sound of food hitting plates. “No no, feathered fellas. No noodles for you.”

“Yeah, and the cheese gives them wicked gas,” said Jace. “Learned that the hard way on the trip up here.”

They all laughed.

THE END.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading and keeping with me. I know my updates didn't come as frequently as I had planned and I feel bad about that. But I had a lot of fun writing this... C'mon, what's more adorable than dinosaurs who act like puppies? So I hope you had as much fun reading.


End file.
